The organization you lead experiences the impact of external and internal forces. The organizational leader-local church or nonprofit-is responsible to pay attention and learn from entities that will have some level of influence in and on the organization. Your leadership style must accommodate opportunities to learn from these forces and then implement the lesson learned throughout your organization (Phipps and Burbach). The external forces influencing an organization include the cultural environment, politics, economics, similar organizations and individual persons interacting with your specific organization. Your organization functions as a living entity within a diverse environment that contributes to the direction of your organization. Let’s consider these two organizations.

Christians organize to form a local church. The local church functions to reach and to communicate the message of the Gospel in its given context (Acts 14-16, English Standard Version). This organization, regardless of denominational affiliation, participates in environments consisting of; distinct views on religion, food habits, dialect, family, and work. Leaders possess the challenge of listening to persons who participate daily in these environments. The information accumulated from men and women living in the immediate cultural environment assist the local church to reach and communicate the message of the Gospel. Leaders support the sustainability of the local church by understanding the outside forces that interact with the organization.

The nonprofit world contains a diversity of organizations similar to the local church and business world. Nonprofit organizations (NPO) orient around a specific cause, demographic or issue to create advocacy, awareness and action. Men and women who lead such organizations have the similar task of the church leader to understand external forces which include and not limited to; persons passionate about the NPO’s specific mission, policy information, fundraising efforts, and other NPO’s accomplishing similar work. The NPO leader is listening and observing two worlds on daily basis. In our immediate discussion, leaders observe the need to leave their offices periodically and discern what is moving towards and away from their organization.

Smith and Lewis (2011) conducted a study on organizing and argue that external forces are frequent, competitive, and serve a purpose for the sustainability of the organization. Therefore, the external forces impacting the local church or NPO are useful tools to advance the health of your organization. How can the church leader, church planter or NPO leader see these external forces as learning opportunities?

Create opportunities in your schedule to meet with persons and organizations that align with your organizations purpose. This is especially key for local churches that are to do good, especially to those of who belong to the Christian faith (Gal 6).

Read. Read. Read. Read information that is directly related to your cause. A leader executes better decisions when he or she is well informed.

Create opportunities for staff members (local church or NPO) to research an external force and present that information to your organizational team.